Sewer smell in bathroom

maimee_magic

I'm hoping someone may be able to help with this. I live in a 1930s bungalow and a couple of weeks ago we started to smell a horrible smell in our bathroom. It's definitely a sewer smell not rotten eggs. We called a plumber who replaced the waste on the bath but it's not helped. He's checked the seal on the toilet and says it's fine. The smell seems worse at night time and even seems to enter the bedroom next to the bathroom. Have put unblocker down the sink and shower to see if that helps but doesn't. The vent pipe is not in the wall but on the outside of the house. Have rang the water board but as there 's no smell outside our house they won't come and have a look. They told me to contact the Environmental Health Dept. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mr.Generous

Start with the easy stuff, clean and bleach the basin and bath overflows, check they drain water away fully, and check for any leaks. Remove the bath panel and check same thing for the bath. Then put a blue loo block in the cistern and flush - see if any blue water is seeping out anywhere. Look at the soil pipe the toilet empties into and see if any water is leaking out, hopefully this goes through the wall and outside. If it goes under the floor the problem could be out of sight.

Easy to assume its a toilet problem, but water from waste pipes can absolutely stink too. Have a good sniff round and see if you can identify whether its toilet, basin or bath / shower where the smell is stronger. Plumbing parts are cheap to replace, but wastes often require more skill to ensure leak free than mains pressure pipes. It's all about natural angles not putting strain on the joints - the secret is out!

TheCyclingProgrammer

When you smell it, can you check that there is water in any traps?

maimee_magic

Thanks for your replies. We've put bleach and unblocker down all the plugs but no joy. All the traps have water in. When the plumber returns today I'm going to get him to remove the toilet again and try a smoke bomb in the vent pipe. The soil pipe does go out through the wall and not under the floor.

Clairabella

Have you checked all traps have water in? We had an unused shower in one ensuite, I eventually found that the sewage smell was coming from the trap, the water had evaporated over time allowing the smell from the drains into the house. An easy fix once I'd managed to identify the problem.

Ganga

Does the toilet flush properly,do the sink and the bath/shower empty as normal.
Would be temted to lift the manhole cover ouside the house and have look to see if anything is blocked.When the cover is off get someone to flush the loo and see if it flows ok.

googler

Try leaving cling film or old towels over the basin, bath and shower outlets overnight, see if that removes or reduces it. If not, you probably need to look below the floor, see if anything is leaking to your basement or void space.

maimee_magic

It all empties normally. Will try all your suggestions. Thanks. Spoke to Environmental Health and he says that the water board need to come and have a look so rang them again and they've agreed to come but could be up to 5 days as they're very busy! Can't wait to sort it out.